General Psych : Development over the Lifespan

Chapter 7Development over the Lifespan•What innate abilities does an infant possess?•What are the developmental tasks of childhood?•What changes mark the transition of adolescence?•What developmental challenges do adults face?

Developmental Psychology

• The psychological study of growth, change, and consistency through the lifespan

• Examines these changes from multiple perspectives:

• physical• emotional• cognitive• sociocultural

• Examines how both heredity and environment influence these changes

The Nature–Nurture Issue• Long-standing discussion over relative

importance of nature (heredity) and nurture (environment) in their influence on behavior and mental processes

• Nature-Nurture Interaction • We’re all born with certain predispositions, if

exposed to the right environment, can reach their full potential

Question

Psychologists use which group to study the relative effects of nature & nurture?

1. Twins2. Adopted children3. Both of the above 4. None of the above

.

AnswerPsychologists use which group to study

the relative effects of nature & nurture?

1. Twins2. Adopted children3. Both of the above (p. 267)4. None of the above

Studying The Nature–Nurture Interaction

• Twin Studies• Developmental investigations in which twins,

especially identical twins, are compared in the search for genetic and environmental effects

• Adoption Studies• Studies in which the adopted child’s

characteristics are compared to those of the biological family and the adoptive family

What Innate Abilities Does the Infant Possess?

Newborns have innate abilities for finding nourishment, avoiding harmful situations, and

interaction with others—all of which are genetically designed to facilitate survival.

•Innate ability• Capacity that is biologically based

Prenatal Development• Prenatal Period: The developmental period before

birth• Zygote (fertilized egg)• Embryo (developing organism, first 8 weeks after

conception)• Fetus (developing organism between embryonic

stage and birth)• Teratogens: Toxic substances that can damage the

developing organism▫ Viruses▫ Drugs/chemicals

Alcohol – Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

• Placenta: An organ that develops between the embryo/fetus and the mother

Neonatal Period(from Birth to One Month)

• Sensory Abilities• Visual and auditory preferences

• Social Abilities• Mimicry

• Innate Reflexes• Postural reflex – allows baby to sit with support• Grasping reflex – cling to a caregiver• Rooting reflex – turn head when cheek is stroked,

begin to suck• Stepping reflex – when held upright, will step,

helps in preparing to walk

Infancy (from One Month to about Eighteen Months)

• Neural Development• Sensitive period

• “Window of opportunity” for development• Responsive to stimuli of a particular sort, such as

hormones; chemicals or learning language• Brain development

• Synaptic pruning: The process of trimming unused brain connections, making neurons available for future development

• Maturation• The unfolding of genetically programmed processes

of growth and development over time• Genetic Leash

• Maturation dictates the general timeframe of development, but the environment can speed up or slow down that timing

Maturation Timetable for Locomotion


• Responds to sound• Becomes quiet when picked up• Vocalizes occasionally

Birth 1 mo.


• Smiles socially• Recognizes mother• Rolls from side to back• Lifts head and holds it erect and

steady

Birth 1 mo. 2 mo.


• Vocalizes to the smiles and talk of an adult

• Searches for source of sound• Sits with support, head steady

Birth 1 mo. 2 mo. 3 mo.


• Gaze follows dangling ring, vanishing spoon, and ball moved across table

• Sits with slight support

Birth 1 mo. 2 mo. 3 mo. 4 mo.


• Discriminates strangers from familiar persons

• Turns from back to side• Makes distinctive vocalizations

Birth 1 mo. 2 mo. 3 mo. 4 mo. 5 mo.


• Lifts cup and bangs it• Smiles at mirror image• Reaches for small object

Birth 1 mo. 2 mo. 3 mo. 4 mo. 5 mo. 6 mo.


• Makes playful responses to mirror

• Sits alone steadily• Crawls


7 mo.


• Vocalizes up to four different syllables

• Listens selectively to familiar words

• Pulls to standing position


7 mo. 8 mo.


• Plays pat-a-cake


7 mo. 8 mo. 9 mo. 10 mo.


• Stands alone


7 mo. 8 mo. 9 mo. 10 mo.

11 mo.


• Walks alone


7 mo. 8 mo. 9 mo. 10 mo.

11 mo. 1 year

QuestionAccording to Harlow’s research, upon what

factor do infant monkeys base their attachment?

1.Temperature 2.Contact comfort3.Facial features4.Nourishment

.

AnswerAccording to Harlow’s research, upon what

factor do infant monkeys base their attachment?

1.Temperature 2.Contact comfort (p. 273)3.Facial features4.Nourishment


• Contact comfort: physical contact• Harlow (1965): the stimulation and reassurance

derived from physical touch• Field (1986): massage for premature babies


• Attachment• Socio-emotional

relationship between child and parent or other regular caregiver

• Lorenz: imprinting• A primitive form of

learning in which some young animals follow and form an attachment to the first moving object they see

• Bowlby (1969): human attachment is innate.

• Ainsworth (1989): attachment style• Secure attachment• Anxious-ambivalent

attachment• Avoidant attachment

Attachment Styles• “Strange Situation” experiments

▫ Observe child’s response to different situations and separation from caregiver

• Infants fell into 3 categories▫ Secure attachment

Relaxed and comfortable with caregivers; tolerant of strangers and new experiences; upset when separated, but easily soothed

▫ Anxious-ambivalent attachment Want contact with caregiver, clings to parent,

excessively distressed when separated, inconsolable when reunited

▫ Avoidant attachment Not interested in contact; display less distress upon

separation or happiness when reunited

Strange Situation Experiment

Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages•Lifespan theory of development •Characterizes stages of development as a choice between two opposing beliefs

Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages

•Critiques• Stages may not occur in same order for everyone• Unscientific methods to develop theory (However, has

been supported by later research)

What Are the Developmental Tasks of Childhood?

Nature and nurture work together to help children master important developmental tasks in the areas

of language, acquisition, cognitive development, and development of social relationships.

•Children's development is a result of learning and brain development

How Children Acquire Language

• Language Acquisition Device (LAD; Chomsky’s Theory)• Structure in the brain innately programmed with

some of the fundamental rules of grammar• Vocabulary and Grammar

▫ Babbling stage: repetitive syllables

• One-word stage• Two-word stage• Telegraphic speech (short, simple sentences)

• e.g. “Ball hit Mary cry”

• Morphemes (meaningful units of language that make up words)• Overregularization (e.g., using “hitted” and “feets”)

How Children Acquire Language

• The number of words in a child’s vocabulary increases rapidly during the grade school years—an even faster rate of increase than during the preschool years. The chart shows total vocabulary, including words that a child can use (production vocabulary) and words that a child can understand (comprehension vocabulary).

Cognitive Development

• Cognitive Development• The process by which mental abilities emerge and

change over time• Schemas

• Mental structures that guide your interpretation of concepts and events

• Assimilation• Mental process that incorporates new information into

existing schemas• Accommodation

• Mental process that modifies schemas in order to accommodate new information

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor

Preoperational

Concrete Operational

Formal Operational

•Piaget developed these stages through careful observation of children's’ responses to various problems •He proposed that people go through distinct stages of thought processes and developmental transitions in problem solving/reasoning


Sensorimotor

Preoperational


Formal Operational

• Birth to about age two• The child relies heavily on

innate motor responses to stimuli.

• Sensorimotor intelligence• Mental representations

(internal images of objects and events

• Object permanence (around 8 months)


Sensorimotor

Preoperational


Formal Operational

• About age two to age six or seven

• Marked by well-developed mental representation and the use of language

• Egocentrism (inability to realize that others have different viewpoints)

• Animalistic thinking (believe inanimate objects have life and mental processes)

• Centration (narrow focus of attention)

• Irreversibility (can’t use steps backward to problem solve)

Piaget’s Three Mountain TaskPiaget used this task to illustrate egocentrism or the inability to understand that others’ perspectives may differ from our own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinqFgsIbh0


Sensorimotor

Preoperational


Formal Operational

• About age seven to about age eleven

• The child understands conservation, but is incapable of abstract thought.

• Conservation• Mental operations

Conservation of Liquid Task

Preoperational thinkers cannot understand that the amount of liquid remains the same when poured into a different-sized container. Mastery of this conservation task marks the transition to the concrete operational stage.


Sensorimotor

Preoperational


Formal Operational

• From about age twelve on• Abstract and hypothetical

thought appears

QuestionThe attainment of which of Piaget’s stages is

most dependent on education and environment?

1.Sensorimotor2.Preoperational3.Concrete operational4.Formal operational

.

AnswerThe attainment of which of Piaget’s stages is

most dependent on education and environment?

1.Sensorimotor2.Preoperational3.Concrete operational4.Formal operational (p. 300)

Piaget’s Stages

Beyond Piaget: Theory of Mind

An understanding that others may have beliefs, desires, and emotions different from one’s own

Underlies your expectations about how people will act in certain situations

Enables empathy, deception, and sound judgments about people

QuestionAn individual’s characteristic (perhaps genetic)

pattern of response is called _____.1.scaffolding2.theory of mind3.temperament4.instinct

.

AnswerAn individual’s characteristic (perhaps genetic)

pattern of response is called _____.1.scaffolding2.theory of mind3.temperament (p. 288)4.instinct

Social and Emotional Development

• Temperament• An individual’s characteristic manner of behvior or

reaction, strong genetic basis, inherited, “hard-wired” pattern of personality and behavior

• Socialization• The lifelong process of shaping an individual’s

behavior patterns, values, standards, skills, attitudes, and motives to conform to those regarded as desirable in a particular society

Social and Emotional Development

• Parenting Style ▫ Approach to parenting can influence child’s

development • Effects of daycare

▫ Most children thrive in daycare (and most daycares are of good quality)

▫ Poor-quality daycare can lead to aggression, mood disorder and maladjustment

• Leisure influences▫ Media (video games, television)▫ Spending time with friends

• Gender differences▫ Children learn gender roles and gender-related

behaviors

Parenting Styles

What Changes Mark theTransition of Adolescence?

Adolescence offers new developmental challenges growing out of physical changes, cognitive changes,

and socioemotional changes.

•Adolescence starts at puberty and ends at adulthood

The Transitions of Adolescence• Rites of Passage

• Social rituals that usually take place at about the time of puberty and serve as a public acknowledgement of the transition from childhood to adulthood

Physical Changes• Puberty

▫ Onset of sexual maturity Menarche (Onset of menstruation, which signals

puberty in girls)• Increases in hormonal levels

• Estrogen and testosterone• This leads to sensation seeking and risk taking, as

well as preoccupation with body image and sex

• The amygdala is fully developed, but the frontal lobe is not.• A teenager reacts more emotionally than does an

adult.

• Brain regions not adequately stimulated are pruned/trimmed.• The brain becomes gradually less adept at learning.

• Piaget’s final stage of cognitive growth

• formal operational stage (abstract and complex thought)

Neural and Cognitive Developmentin Adolescence

Social and Emotional Issues in Adolescence

• The increasing influence of peers

• Period of turmoil? Not necessarily! (may depend on parenting style)

• Identity crisis ▫ Marcia’s Stages of Identity Development

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

• Development of our sense of right and wrong using moral dilemmas

• Responses to moral dilemmas fell into six categories/stages

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development• Heinz Dilemma:

▫ In Europe a woman was near death from a very special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together $1000, which is half the cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug, and I’m going to make money from it.” So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz have done that? Why?

• Critiques of Kohlberg’s theory:• Culture and morality• Gender and morality (Carl Gilligan- male bias as

women’s morality embedded in social relationships and personal caring)

What DevelopmentalChallenges Do Adults Face?Nature and nurture continue to interact as we

progress thorough a series of transitions in adulthood, with cultural norms about age

combining with new technology to increase both the length and quality of life

for many adults

•Revolution in Aging• New perspective about aging that grows out of the

fact that people live longer, have better, healthcare and more lifestyle choices

• Has resulted in increased interest in studying adult development

Erikson’s Psychosocial StagesAge/Period Principal Challenge

0 to 1 1/2 Years Trust vs. Mistrust

1 1/2 to 3 Years Autonomy vs. Self-Doubt

3 to 6 Years Initiative vs. Guilt

6 Years to Puberty Industry vs. Inferiority

Adolescence Identity vs. Role Confusion

Early Adulthood Intimacy vs. Isolation

Middle Adulthood Generativity vs. Stagnation

Late Adulthood Ego-Integrity vs. Despair

Early and Emerging Adulthood

• Emerging Adulthood▫A transition period between adolescence and

adulthood

• Intimacy versus Isolation• Intimacy: capacity to make a full commitment• Isolation: inability to connect with others in

meaningful ways

• Exploration and Experimentation• work, lifestyle, worldviews

Challenges of Midlife

▫Peak period of life as opposed to “over the hill”▫Generativity vs. Stagnation

Generativity To make meaningful and lasting contributions to

family, work, society, or future generations Stagnation

• Mid-life crisis (questioning past choices, becoming cynical, acting recklessly, not contributing)

Most do not undergo a midlife crisis. Most do not experience the “empty nest

syndrome.”

Late Adulthood:The Age of Integrity

• According to Erikson, the final crisis involves ego-identity vs. despair.

• Ego-Identity• The ability to look back on life without regrets and to

enjoy a sense of wholeness

Late Adulthood Developmental Issues

• Vision• Hearing• Thinking, learning, and problem solving• Memory• Sexual functioning• Social interaction• Emotions

Keys to Successful Aging• Social contact/support

• Anything that isolates us from social support puts us at risk for physical illness and mental problems

• Physical activity• Overcoming Stereotypes

• View of elderly people as incapable and incompetent

• Rather, elderly can/should be respected for their wisdom and experience

General Psych : Development over the Lifespan

Education

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